Abbott: Rudd on 'international crusade' over refugee convention

ELEANOR HALL: As the Prime Minister prepares to announce changes to Australia's asylum seeker policy, the Coalition is accusing him of, as it puts it, "internationalising" the problem.

Kevin Rudd has indicated that he has concerns about the effectiveness of the UN Refugee Convention, which Australia was one of the first nations to sign in 1951.

The details of Mr Rudd's plans are being tightly guarded, but the Government has been in discussion with UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

From Canberra, Lexi Metherell reports.

LEXI METHERELL: Labor wants to be able to show it has a plan to reduce the number of asylum seeker boats heading to Australia before calling an election.

Frontbencher Bill Shorten is the latest minister talking tough on the issue

BILL SHORTEN: What motivates Prime Minister Rudd is maintaining the integrity of our immigration system, is making sure that people do not put to sea in unsafe boats, cruelly and dangerously exploited by people smugglers. And we know that the composition of people coming to Australia is changing from just straight political refugees to people coming for a much wider range of reasons.

It's hinted there could be changes to the operation of the Refugee Review Tribunal and the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has signalled that the 62-year-old UN Refugee Convention is in his sights.

KEVIN RUDD: We are looking at this right now globally, in terms of the effectiveness of the refugees' convention.

LEXI METHERELL: The Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.

TONY ABBOTT: Mr Rudd is always trying to internationalise problems, and that's an excuse for inaction here in Australia.

LEXI METHERELL: Nonetheless he also has concerns about the Convention.

TONY ABBOTT: The difficulty with the convention is the way it's been imported into Australian law - that's the difficulty. It's the things that we do here in Australia as Australians that matter and we should get cracking on doing what we need to in this country and on our borders to fix this problem - not raise yet another red herring which is Mr Rudd leading some kind of an international crusade to change an international rule.

The executive director of the Refugee and Immigration Legal Centre, David Manne, says the international discussion is not about retreating from the convention but expanding its remit.

DAVID MANNE: Because what we do know in current times is that there are many new forms of violence, internal armed conflict, there are civil wars, there are tragedies around the world unfolding in Syria and other places.

The real discussion internationally is about how to ensure that the Refugees Convention can be responsive to people stuck in their home countries at risk of brutal violence or indeed people that have fled from it - not about how to retreat from protecting people but how to expand the protection for them.

LEXI METHERELL: The convention's main aim is to commit countries to not returning people into danger.

But it doesn't prescribe the way countries should handle asylum seekers.

The Federal Government is reviewing Australia's high rate of acceptance compared to other countries like Canada.

When John Howard was prime minister his immigration minister Philip Ruddock struggled to overhaul processing procedures because of the appeals system that's in place and the precedents set over the years.

On AM the Coalition's immigration spokesman Scott Morrison indicated the Coalition would again crack down on appeals.

SCOTT MORRISON: We had a two track process before and that is the process that we think was the best way to handle those things when we were last in government. Last time we removed the appeals to the Refugee Review Tribunal and that is obviously an outcome that if legally can be implemented once again, that we would look kindly upon.

LEXI METHERELL: The magnitude of the problem the Government's facing has been underscored by two separate asylum boat tragedies in the last week in which at least five people have drowned on their way to Australia and the occupancy of the Immigration Detention Centre on Christmas Island continues to balloon.

A month ago there were 3,153 people in the facility as of last night that had grown to 4,122.